79
Department of Fisheries opened its first courses for training fishermen and their sons in the requirements of the simplified examination. The courses, for which no charge is made, have been running ever since.43
The Boats: Seasonal and Individual Differences
Lying as it does just within the Tropic of Cancer, Hong Kong experiences quite marked seasonal variations in temperature and rainfall. The months of January, February and March can be chilly indeed and very damp. The boat covers are seldom removed, padded clothes are piled on, and those who can afford them are glad to sleep rolled up in thick padded cotton quilts. April begins to warm up, but is usually still cool and wet until at the end of the month there is a dramatic change (often heralded by a week or two of dull, very humid weather) to the strong sunlight and high humidity of summer. The covers are rolled up, padded clothes and quilts stored away, and out come the canvas awnings which are rigged to provide shade at stern and bows. The warmth of the engine, which is a comfort in the winter, is much disliked in summer, but a moving boat is always cool and even at anchor the heat and humidity seem less on board than on land. One of the attractions of Kau Sai in the summer is the constant cool breeze that is guaranteed by its position at the edge of the narrow strait, and the clear, clean water where the children splash and swim. In the old days one of the most important functions of the village shop was to provide storage for winter clothes and quilts during the summer months; now these are kept in the fishermen's own new houses, but as the shopkeeper made no charge for this service no one is either better or worse off.
Apart from such seasonal changes as these it might be thought that there could be little scope for individual variations from junk to junk. The general layout of holds and deck space was the same for all purse-seiners and all long-liners respectively, and each was engaged in essentially exactly similar work. Moreover all were subject to such crushing limitations of space (giving each family quite considerably less room than in an old-fashioned gypsy caravan in England) that individual idiosyncrasy might be